Michael Ignatieff was very clear on Wednesday that the Liberal Party would oppose legislation ending the gun registry.
None of the other opposition Parties will support such legislation.
So if the Conservatives try to pass the legislation it will fail -- but is it a matter of confidence? An election over the gun registry? I cannot believe the Prime Minister would allow his government to fall over that -- although I'd gladly fight an election on the issue -- especially with guns and gangs being a major problem (not that gangs use a lot of long guns but the optics are there). What's more, there is solid police support for the registry.
Anyway, see the Globe story below:
Tories move to kill long-gun registry in Senate
JIM BROWN
The Canadian Press
— The Conservative government, in an abrupt shift of parliamentary strategy, has introduced a bill in the Senate aimed at abolishing the federal long-gun registry.
The move will likely allow Prime Minister Stephen Harper to put some distance between himself and Tory back bencher Garry Breitkreuz, who until now had been allowed to carry the ball on gun control through a private member's bill in the House of Commons.
That bill came under fire from critics who noted it would go far beyond the long-standing Tory promise to eliminate the requirement to register all hunting rifles and shotguns.
The Breitkreuz bill proposed additional changes to the registration and licensing system that would have affected the rules for handguns and other semi-automatic weapons.
James Morton
9 comments:
C'mon Jimmy. We're talking about a guy who wouldn't pull the trigger on something as critical to Canada as the "stimulus" budget. Do you think someone as spineless as this would ask the Canadian public for a victory based on a gun registry? Go to Lee Valley. Look up "tools, useless."
I think Ignatieff would be smart to make the gun registry a free vote. If we are going to get back the West, then the fact is we can't play terrible divisive politics over gun control. I'm not kidding when I say this, every time we TOUCH gun control, our party is killing any possibility of expansion in rural areas and the west.
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Spudster: any marginal gains in the West from being passive towards gun control would be wiped out by how unpopular that move in Quebec and urban Ontario would be. (If you want Iggy to explain to the folks at Dawson College in Montreal that we decided to weaken gun control for the wishful hope of getting votes out West, and think thats going to go over well, you're delusional)
There is no point in going soft on a core principle like this when it has no hope of gaining any seats in any part of Alberta or Saskatchewan, and faces a major backlash in the Liberals power base.
This is just another play by the Conservatives to their disgruntled base, and it needs to be defeated.
It'll be defeated in the Senate anyway, where it is right now, & this is what Harper wants - so he can use it in the next election to try & broaden his base. It's just a game & it won't be a confidence vote. They all know it's a game, all Party's do.
"I will not give this government a blank cheque."
How many times do you guys need to fall for this before you get it?
TPB,
I get it & have for quite awhile now. *sigh*
This isn't about only Alberta and Saskatchewan. This issue extends to nearly ever rural areas in Canada. Even the NDP is worried about supporting the gun registry, and some of their rural MLA's are backing efforts to oppose it--doing anything otherwise is electoral suicide.
Very few people will vote because a party is in favour of the gun registry. In contrast, MANY will decide their vote against any candidate who supports it. Mark my words, a strong Liberal platform for gun control will fuck us badly in the west and in rural areas. It's political suicide. Give the MP's a free vote, the outcome will be the same and our party will get in government. Why would any Quebec voter be mad if their Liberal MP voted in favour of gun control and a Liberal MP in B.C. didn't? Let the MP play to their regional bases and we can emerge from gun control unscathed.
We keep hearing that the Liberals will topple the Conservative government, and it keeps not happening.
Truth is, the Liberals are just fine with Harper. We won't see an election any time soon.
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